Family Secrets
by triad chronicles
Summary: Amara, Dick and Barbara's daughter discoveres a big family secret with Dinah Lance's son Deacon. Is Amara's whole life a lie?


Disclaimer: I do not own any of the DC characters. Hope you enjoy. Please review. Tell me if you like it or not and how I can improve. Thanx!!!!

Barbara Gordon, now Mrs. Barbara Grayson sat by the window of their Gothom City penthouse staring out at the dark October sky. As she looked at the Gothom City skyline she recalled that Gothom was usually always dark, something that she had only realizing just now. It was only 3:00 pm but it was unusually dark and that reminded her of the nights when she used to leap over rooftops chasing criminals and patrolling the city with her vigilante partners. Those times were long over, in fact she had adopted a child and had given birth to two of her very own since then. Barbara and Dick had adopted a son after they thought Barbara couldn't have children in her paralyzed condition. They named him Aramis Jadon Grayson. He was a very happy child and very carefree like his adoptive father had been as a child. To Barbara and Dick's surprise 1 year after they adopted him Barbara became pregnant. Amara Gale Grayson was born on a cold November morning in the Gothom Hospital Emergency Room. Then 10 years after that Aiden James Grayson was born in the family room at Wayne Manor. That was by far the most excitement that family had ever witnessed and everyone knows they've seen some intense things over the years. His name was very appropriate because it meant fiery and Aiden was quite fiery much like his Uncle Tim. Barbara and Dick loved their children and so did everyone else in the family. They were a small and reserved family but for the most part it seemed normal to the children. When Amara was born Barbara and Dick decided that they were not going to tell their children about their secret nightlife or about any of the things they've seen out on their adventures. They felt that this would be for the best and would protect the well being of the children. They didn't want to put their beloved children in danger because they knew what kind of psychotic criminals they dealt with and the thought of losing one of their children to one of their enemies made them tremble in fear. All three children had had a fairly normal childhood even though sometimes they would have to go sleep over Grandpa Bruce's house and have Alfred take care of them while mom, dad, uncle Tim, and grandpa had to go to "work" at night. Sometimes they would have to go to Mommy's apartment in some clock tower and wait for her to finish work she had to do. They were never allowed to go upstairs in the clock tower where Barbara worked or in the room where the batcave entrance was in the manor. They never really felt the need to because Alfred or someone would have the job of always keeping them entertained so they were never really curious to see what was in those rooms.

One time when Amara was about 6 year old her teacher asked her what her parents did for a living as a part of the class discussion. All the other children knew exactly what their parents did. Some of them said teachers, lawyers, and doctors but she had never really thought about it and her parents had never really told her so when she got home and asked them what they did they simply replied that they worked in law enforcement. This was partially true because Dick was a cop and Barbara's dad was the police commissioner of the city so they just left it at that. Amara didn't really understand but that's what she told her class and all went on as usual. Of course there was still that whole thing about them being rich. They didn't know that either until one day in 8th grade, Aramis was in the school library with his class and one of his friends found a copy of Forbes Magazine with Grandpa Bruce on the cover. The title said "Richest Man Alive" underneath the picture of his grandfather. The boy asked, "Isn't that your grandfather?" and Aramis replied that yes indeed that was his grandfather so when _he_ got home and told his parents what had happened they decided to fill them in on that little part of their lives. That was all in the past and Dick and Barbara had survived the easy part of their parenthood days. Their wish that their deepest secret would never be revealed was safe until now and they hoped it would stay that way but with that ever-present detective gene that ran through the symbolic bloodlines of their family, secrets kept from members of the family were not secrets for very long.

Today was Barbara and Dick's 21st wedding anniversary and they were all going to Wayne Manor to celebrate. It was 4:10pm and Barbara heard Amara calling her, "Mom, lets go we're going to be late!" Barbara walked downstairs and met her daughter at the bottom of the stairwell. Barbara had been doing research with the Christopher Reeve Foundation and together they had found a "cure" for her paralysis. Her legs weren't as strong as they had once been but Barbara enjoyed being able to walk again.

They walked together to the Benz where Dick and the boys were waiting impatiently. When they had the kids Dick had to give up his two passenger sports cars because instead of motorcycle helmets and a younger Barbara in the passenger seat he had to put baby seats and diaper bags instead. Aramis was home from his travels. He was 19, out of high school and had taken a year off to travel the world. He had been to Italy, Greece, Japan, and other interesting countries. Sometimes Bruce would surprise him in a Parisian café and Aramis would wonder how the heck he had found him there. He wondered if somehow his grandpa had some kind of tracer on him but nonetheless he was happy to see his grandpa there. Now he was home with his family and was excited to go visit his grandpa and the rest of his family. The drive was about 1 hour long from Gothom City to Wayne Manor but they found ways to entertain themselves. Aiden sat in the back seat all by himself and threw paper balls at his brother and sister. He also found, their dog, Ace's chew toys, and was about to throw them when Amara said, "Aiden, you throw that and I'll have to hurt you." "I dare you to" he said. "Calm down, both of you!" Barbara shouted from the front seat, " Aiden, stop throwing dog toys at your sister." Aiden obeyed and went back to playing with his game boy. Amara calmed down and continued surfing the web on her laptop. For some strange reason _she_ could not explain she was born liking computers. They were listening to Aramis tell his stories of his adventures overseas and about those times when Grandpa Bruce would show up in unexpected places and he would show him the hidden locations tour guides didn't know about. Dick and Barbara just looked at each other and hoped that he didn't catch on to the advanced satellite tracers each child had installed into one of their back teeth. After an hour they finally approached the front gates of Wayne Manor. They drove over to the front entrance only to see several cars already parked in the huge driveway. They rang the doorbell and were greeted by their favorite butler who was more like a second grandfather or a great grandfather, Alfred Pennyworth. He was much older now but he was still strong.

"Good afternoon Master Dick, Miss Barbara, and whom do we have here?" he looked at Aramis and then looked at Aiden who couldn't contain himself from the excitement of seeing Alfred. He quickly yelled, "It's me Alfred! It's me Aiden!" "Well, it sure is, isn't it? Then you must certainly want some cookies and milk," Alfred played around. "Yes I do!" the seven year old replied. "They're in your playroom, Young Sir" Alfred said as he chuckled, "Come in," he said as he greeted everyone. Barbara, Dick and the other two children walked into the house and were led by Alfred to the formal living room. There they found Bruce surrounded by his wife, Selina Kyle, his daughter and the children's aunt, Helena Kyle. Dinah Lance and her husband, Connor Hawk was there and Uncle Tim and his girlfriend, Koriand'r, Kory for short. Their Uncle Clark was there too and his wife Lois. Cassandra Cain and one of Barbara's best friends, Kara Kent was sitting next to her cousin, Clark. These people formed part of the children's family. Some of them were they're parent's "coworkers" others were cousins and others were life long friends. Either way they had grown up with them and had a close relationship to all of them. Aramis had a special relationship with Clark and was good friends with Cassandra and his best friend was Clark's son, Kai-El, Kai for short. Amara was very close to Lois; she loved her inquisitive nature. Something in Lois brought out the detective in Amara. Amara's best friend was Dinah and Connor's son, Deacon. That was because he would come over to the clock tower when Dinah and Barbara would work together. Aiden loved to play with Clark's daughter, Layni, who was only 2 years younger than him. They both loved to chase Ace, the family's Great Dane. Clark and Lois's son knew he was different because of his special powers but just as Clark did when he was a teen, Kai too had to keep his powers a secret from everyone. This was kind of ironic because all the other adults knew about his powers so every time he accidentally used his powers everyone would pretend that they hadn't seen anything. In truth it was a conspiracy. All the adults knew everything and the kids knew nothing about their families' pasts or about what kind of secrets laid hiding within the family. It wasn't even weird to them that some of their friends had solid green eyes like Kory or some were unusually strong like Clark.

They all sat in the dining room eating dinner. Bruce made a toast to Barbara and Dick and told them that he wished that they had many more happy years of marriage to come. Then Dick stood up to thank everyone for coming. They were all having a good time; everyone was enjoying their dinner except for one person. Amara stood up making Barbara ask in a concerned voice, "Where are you going, sweetie? She looked at her mother and said, "Oh, I'm just going to the bathroom. I'll be right back soon. Excuse me everybody." "Sure," everyone said. She wasn't really going to the bathroom in fact she didn't really know where she was going. She wasn't sure of what she wanted to find but deep down something was calling to her, something was haunting her in her dreams. Nothing about her childhood made sense and even if the tried hard to make it seem like it did she just wanted to believe an abnormal gut feeling she had. She walked along the mansion unsure of what she was looking for. She walked and walked because of coarse it was a huge house and there were many ways of getting lost. She kept going ready to give up what seemed to her a stupid hunt for nothing, until she came to that door, that door that they had never been able to open. It was the only door in that museum of a house that was never open. She looked at it and it scared her but somehow she knew it held the key to unlocking her dreams, the mystery that had disturbed her for years. She knew someone was keeping things from her even though she didn't want to believe it and she knew that somehow opening that door would give her the answers she had been looking for. She slowly reached for the doorknob but hesitated as she thought of what might happen after she opened the door. What if nothing was there, what if she was just imaging things, was she being insensitive to her parents? Would they really hide anything from her? Was she violating her family's trust by opening the door? She didn't know what to think anymore. But on the other hand, what if she was right? What if her parents where involved with the mafia and that's why they were so rich? What if her family was in some kind of witness protection program and they weren't really who they said they were? Or what if they were spies or some government agents like that? She didn't know but she had to find out. She placed her hand on the doorknob and turned it. It was locked. "Crap!" she yelled. She thought of how she was going to get in there and then she remembered some trick Alfred had shown them when they where 7 involving a credit card. She pulled out one of her credit cards and wedged it between the door and the doorframe. When it finally went in she pushed the door forward and miraculously it opened. She didn't want to go in but she did. The room was cold and dark, she felt around for a light switch and when she found it she flipped it and a couple of dim lights came on. The room had an enigmatic feel to it but surprisingly there was nothing strange about the room. It had a chimney with a portrait of Thomas and Martha Wayne over it, a desk with pictures of her and her brothers and her parents and a big grandfather clock. The clock caught her attention because it had stars, a moon, and a sun that would rotate as time passed. That was interesting but what really intrigued her was that the clock was indented into the wall; it was as if someone had carved the clock right from the wood in the wall. Its melodic chimes summoned her towards it and as she walked closer to it she heard an eerie noise come from within the wall. It scared her but somehow she just kept going. She touched the clock and a shiver went up her spine as her fingers touched the cold glass of the clock. The noise stopped for a moment but then she heard an ear piercing screeching noise come form behind the clock. The unfamiliar noise startled her and the glass touching her fingers began to vibrate.

Back in the dinning room as everyone talked about their day, Barbara began to wonder regarding the whereabouts of her daughter. "Dick, honey, where do you think Amara went? She's been gone for a while now." Dick looked at her and gave her an uninformed look. He wasn't sure what she was thinking until he realized how long she had been gone and how many places she could be in the manor that would keep her so interested. He stared at Barbara but know his expression changed as he realized what she was getting at. He quickly thought of what would happen if she uncovered their big secret but then he said hopefully, "lets hope she's in her room listening to music or taking a nap or taking on the phone with her friend. I mean she's never tried to before, has she? " "I don't know but what if she's been thinking about it. Maybe they've caught on the fact that we're different compared to everyone else. I mean, they'll have to find out sooner or later, right?" Barbara looked at her worried husband as she asked him a question he always dreaded to hear. "I'm just afraid," he responded, " I know some day they would have to find out but I wished it wouldn't come so soon. I really hope she hasn't found out. We better go check on her." Dick stood up and looked at Bruce. By this time the other uninformed children were off playing and watching TV. "Where are you going, Dick?" Bruce asked as he saw his son get up from the table. Dick looked around then looked at Barbara, who slightly nodded her head which gave him permission to tell the adults what was going on. "What's going on Dick?" Clark asked. "Well, all of you know as parents what our biggest fear has been among the years." Clark nodded in agreement because he knew what Dick was getting at. "We all know what your talking about," Lois began, "I know Clark sometimes feels like telling the children stories about his past and how he was Superman and I know that he would like to tell them where he actually goes off to when he goes on a special "reporter assignment." "Its tough to keep it from them but it's for their own safety." Clark added. " I don't know what I would do if one of my kids got hurt because of a sinister criminal or be taken as hostages. I wouldn't be able to live with myself. My children are my biggest weakness, even more that krypton." "It's true," Bruce, added, "There was a time when I wasn't sure if I wanted Dick or Tim to get involved in the superhero business." "Well now some of them are getting to a certain age where I think its time for them to find out but sometimes I'm afraid that if I tell them they'll hate me for not of telling them sooner or what if they want to be the next generation of Supermen or Robins?" Barbara added. "I know what you mean," Dinah added, "Deacon shows a love for archery just like his father but my biggest fear is that he'll want to become the next _Green Arrow_!" Connor's face blushed in awkwardness. "I think we should take a vote!" Clark said. "I know it should be a personal issue but if we tell one and it slips from that one's mouth and he or she tells the others then we're in trouble." "The cat will be out of the bag, wouldn't it?" Selina said witty tone. Everyone smiled and then they proceeded with their vote. "Everyone who says we should tell them now raise you hand" Bruce said. Not one person raised his or her hand. "Then it's settled. No one will find out until all of them are adults." Bruce finished with that statement and they returned to their conversation.

Amara's hand was still on the glass when a creeping noise that came from behind startled her. She quickly grabbed a stapler that was on Bruce's desk and threw it behind her. "Ouch!" she heard from her follower's mouth. "What's wrong with you? It's just me, Deacon." "Oh my goodness I'm so sorry!" she grabbed his head and rubbed the bump that was now forming on his forehead. "What are you doing here? I thought this place was _forbidden_ to you. Remember this is just like upstairs in the clock tower. We're not allowed to be in here." "Exactly! I want to know what is so important about this room and the one in the clock tower. What's the big secret?" Amara looked at him with her big green eyes. He stared into her eyes and felt her discomfort and he related. He too wondered about their parent's over protectiveness. Sometimes he felt that they were hiding something from him. "I found something interesting in here," she began. " What? The weird artifacts?" " No I found this clock…" "Oh yes that's very fascinating." "Shut up this is serious. There's something behind it." "Yes it's called the wall." "No, feel it." She grabbed his had and placed it over the glass. The glass was cold and it felt like air was being blown out from the inside. "Do you feel it?" Amara asked. "Yeah I do he responded, " What's that noise?" "That's what I've been trying to figure out." "So open it to see where the air's coming from." He gently pushed her towards the clock, "go ahead open it." She put her hands on the clock once more and as she opened it the pendulum stopped moving. She was surprised and looked at Deacon. He just gave her a puzzled look and inspected the inside of the clock. As he put his head closer to the inside of the clock the screeching noise they had heard before became extremely loud. Amara observed the inside also and she began to giggle because Deacon's blond hair matched the gold on the clock. As she observed some more she wondered why the pendulum had stopped when they had opened the door. Deacon was using Amara for support but when she moved he lost his balance so he grabbed on to the pendulum and as he did he pulled it down.

By this time the adults had moved to the dining room and when Aiden passed by Barbara asked, "Aiden, is your sister with you?" he quickly turned around and said, "No she's not and neither is Deacon. Hehehe!" "What!" Dick and Conner both screamed. "Well where are they?" "I don't know." Dick, Conner, Barbara, Clark, and Lois all stood up in a hurry followed by Bruce and Dinah. "Where do you think they could be?" asked Connor. "I think I know," Bruce answered. They all followed him down the hallway. When they got to the room where the batcave was they found the door wide open but no kids.

Deacon and Amara had made their way down the batcave stairs while exploring the unknown setting. "Where are we?" Amara asked. "If you don't know I sure as hell am not going to know," Deacon replied. "Are you scared?" he asked her. "No, just as long as you keep holding my hand," she looked at him and smiled sweetly. When they made their way down to the maid sublevel the lights turned on and Amara's eyes widened as she finally found what she had been looking for. It was really cold down there but she didn't even notice because she was so astonished and amazed that she almost began to cry. "This is unbelievable," Deacon said with a dumbstruck face. "I can't believe they never told us," Amara said in disbelief. She got closer to a huge computer that said welcome on the screen and sat down in the chair in front of it. She started to type something and a text box came up and it said password. Deacon stared at her wondering if she was going to give up or not but she just kept typing. Somehow she got through and another screen popped up. This one had many titles and subtitles but the one that caught her attention said "Data Base". She clicked on it and got more titles and subtitles. By now Deacon was confused but he just kept looking anyway. There was a search box on the screen and out of curiosity she typed in her name. A few seconds after hitting search a bio popped up with her picture and other personal information like; Name: Amara Gale Grayson, Occupation: student, Height: 5'7", Hair: long, Auburn, Eyes: Green, etc. " Maybe its just a place your grandfather keeps everyone's personal information" Deacon suggested. " I don't think so." "Yeah, me neither I was just trying to be reasonable," he said with a sheepish smile. "Let's try your name Deacon," she said looking at him. "Why I'm not related to you." He had never seen her this excited. "Yeah, but I'm just curious. I want to know how many people he has in here." "Alright, fine," he replied. She typed in him name and a new screen popped up; he was in there too. "Look you are in here," she said, "what is this?" She read his bio and everything seemed normal until she came to the part where it talked about who his parents were. The screen showed his parent's names, Dinah Lance and Connor Hawk but both their names had a star next to them. The screen that appeared when she clicked on the star left Deacon speechless. "What the heck?" was the only thing he could say. The screen showed his mother's name and along with a subtitle that said "alias: Black Canary". Under his father's name it said "alias: Green Arrow". "Is that why I'm a good archer and why my mom is obsessed with canaries?" "I guess so," Amara replied, "I can't believe this. We've lived all this time without knowing anything about this. If your parents are the Black Canary and Green Arrow, who are my parents? Who have I been living with all my life?" "I have no idea. Lets check." She typed in her parent's names, clicked on their stars and got her answer. Her face was pale and she felt weak. Her mother's bio said "aliases: Batgirl and Oracle" and her father's said "aliases: Robin and Nightwing". She couldn't believe it. After that she just stopped and stared at Deacon. She started to cry on Deacon's shoulder. He stroked her head trying to comfort her but as he realized what they had just found he too felt like crying but he held it in.

Bruce opened the batcave entrance and all of them made their way down the batcave stairs. When they came to the main sublevel Bruce found Amara and Deacon hugging each other on the floor by the Data Base Computer. She looked up and looked at her mother. "I can explain, Amara! Please let me explain!" Barbara pleaded. "Its too late we already know enough" Deacon answered. "Why did none of you tell us? Did you think we would never find out?" Amara asked. "Let me explain" Bruce said "but lets all go upstairs first." They agreed and made their way up the stairs. When they got back up all the rest of the children sat in the study room waiting. "Why are you all here?" Clark asked. "I overheard what was going on." Kai said. "All the way from the living room? Amara asked. "Hey! I think its safe to say that I have super hearing now that I heard what been going on with you parents. Don't tell me all of you were superheroes or something?" "Actually we were, son," Clark said. "Yeah right and who were you dad, Superman?" Kai asked sarcastically. "And your right again son" Clark answered. Kai stood speechless in the middle of everyone. "Join the club" Deacon said to him. All of them sat in the study room with their children and soon the rest of the adults joined in on the reunion. Each parent and non-parent took turns telling the children who their alter ego was. The children all listened patiently. They we're all surprised at what they were hearing. After everyone was done Kai asked, " but why didn't you tell us?" His father looked at him and said, "We didn't tell you because we were scared that you would want to get involved and then you would become easy targets for all the lunatic criminals out there and if we told you about our secret identities you would have to carry that heavy burden everywhere you go and for the rest of your lives. We were going to wait until all of you were adults and then tell you because all of you would be more mature and capable of handling such a heavy load." Not all of them were totally convinced and some of them were to young to understand but they all tried to accept it. This brought everyone closer and there was a deep sense of pride and respect among the family of superheroes. There big secret was out at first it was nerve racking but after a while there was a big sigh of relief between the parents. Now that the children knew about their parents it was their choice what they where going to do with that information. Finally Aramis spoke up and said, " I don't know what the big deal is. I've know ever since I was 6 years old." Everyone looked at him in confusion. "I'm serious, one time I saw Grandpa in his Batman costume when I was sleeping over. He told me if I didn't tell anyone he would buy me a go-cart track so I didn't tell anyone." "Aramis!" Barbara and Bruce exclaimed. "Bruce what were you thinking?" Dick asked. "What? He didn't tell anyone did he?"

"Oh, Dad!" Helena said.


End file.
